Pitt Struggles Mightily in Loss to North Carolina

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers prevented a massive blowout on the road to No. 11 North Carolina, but still never had a real chance of winning in their 79-65 defeat.

Pitt falls to 9-17 overall, 2-11 in the ACC and 1-7 on the road this season, with this serving as their fifth straight defeat, all coming in the past two weeks.

North Carolina improves to 20-5 overall, 8-4 in the ACC and 15-0 at home, even without two of their best players missing the contest in junior center Henri Veesaar and freshman forward Caleb Wilson.

Pitt also falls to 9-19 against UNC in the all-time series, 7-10 in the ACC and 3-6 on the road in Chapel Hill.

North Carolina Jumps Out to Big Lead Over Pitt

The Tar Heels had a great start to the game, making their first eight shots and holding an 18-8 lead with 14 minutes remaining Junior guard Luka Bogavac led the Tar Heels with seven points and forward Jarin Stevenson added five points as well.

Panthers senior forward Cameron Corhen kept them in the game, making three 3-pointers and a layup for 11 points and fellow forward in freshman Roman Siulepa added two baskets as well, cutting the deficit to 20-15 at the 11:55 mark.

Pitt Panthers forward Cameron Corhen — Feb 14, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers forward Cameron Corhen (2) with the ball as North Carolina Tar Heels forward Zayden High (1) defends in the first half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Bogavac and Stevenson each made a 3-pointer and put UNC back up 26-15 and the home team would hold a double-digit lead for most of the remainder of the first half, leading 46-32, despite making just one of their final nine shots in the period.

Corhen scored 17 points to lead the Panthers in the first half, shooting 7-for-9 from the field, while the Tar Heels had three different double-digit scorers, with Stevenson at 14 points, senior guard Seth Trimble at 13 points and Bogavac at 10 points.

Split Second Half Makes Result Inevitable

Both teams scored 33 points in the second half, with North Carolina preventing Pitt from making any sort of comeback.

The Tar Heels got the lead to as high as 22 points at 70-48 with about eight minutes remaining, before the Panthers outscored them 17-9 to make it just a 14-point defeat.

UNC sophomore Zayden High led with 11 points in the second half, shooting 5-for-7 from the field.

Siulepa scored nine points off 4-for-5 shooting in the period, while senior guard/forward Barry Dunning Jr. scored eight points and made two 3-pointers.

Players of the Game

Corhen tied his season-high with 23 points against the Tar Heels, shooting 10-of-17 from the field, while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out six assists.

Siulepa added 14 points and Dunning had 10 points to join Corhen as three Panthers in double-digits.

Pitt Panthers forward Roman Siulepa — Feb 14, 2026; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers forward Roman Siulepa (13) with the ball as North Carolina Tar Heels guard Seth Trimble (7) defends in the first half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

North Carolina had four double-digit scorers, with Trimble and Stevenson leading with 19 points each and both High and Bogavac scoring 15 points each.

Both teams shot similarly in this game, with Pitt shooting 47.3% from the field and 36.8% from deep, while UNC shot 46.7% from the field and 36.0% from behind the arc.

The Tar Heels made two more 3-pointers than the Panthers, but also went 14-for-17 from the line, while Pitt shot just 6-for-8.

North Carolina forced 12 Pitt turnovers, which they scored 12 points off of, while also limiting themselves to just four turnovers. They also outscored Pitt on fastbreak points, 16-4.

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